Eurozone prepares for further stimulus package

The European Central Bank is set to announce further measures to boost the eurozone economy at its policy meeting later today.

The ECB is expected to take further action to tackle low inflation of 0.1 per cent, compared with a target of close to 2 per cent, the BBC reports.

At the last policy meeting in October, ECB president Mario Draghi said Europe’s stimulus package would be re-examined this month.

Options on the table include boosting the central bank’s quantitative easing programme, either by increasing the level of asset purchased from €60bn or by extending the provisional end date beyond September 2016.

The ECB could also cut the interest rates on overnight bank deposits in a bid to stimulate lending. The rate on overnight bank deposits currently stands at -0.2 per cent.

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